On Feb. 9, Augustana College updated its policy on smoking and vaping, prohibiting both activities completely, including in and around residence halls and TLAs. 

Mary Baril, resident director for TLA housing, described the pre-2020 policy.

“The old policy said that you had to be 15 feet away from a campus building,” Baril said. “You could smoke then, but we didn’t allow it in the halls, even if you were 21.”

In the fall of 2020, under COVID-19 restrictions Augustana temporarily prohibited any smoking or vaping due to health concerns. Augustana’s strict masking policy at the time was also a factor in the decision making process.

“Once COVID hit, we put a pause on it and said, ‘you can’t smoke at all,’” Baril said. “It requires pulling down a mask, and that’s not safe.”

The latest policy change extends this ban, making it a permanent rule on campus. The original ban was in place for the 2020-2021 school year. Punishments for infractions will look similar to those for alcohol violations, and according to Baril, “the fines are going to double, triple each time.” Despite what may appear to be a sudden change, those involved say that the decision has been well researched.

Dr. Lena Hann, associate professor of public health, said that student activists have been pushing for a tobacco-free campus for years. An initial proposal was presented in spring of 2019 by Jennifer DiBuono ‘19. 

In the fall of 2019, alumni Christianne Albers ‘21 and Lisamarie Pereira ‘21 conducted focus groups as part of Dr. Hann’s health behavior and promotion course. Finally, Ariel Gonsowski Padron ‘21, Katie Zenisek ‘22, Jacob Ramos ‘22 and DiAngelo Gonzalez ‘21 drafted and presented their Tobacco-Free Campus proposal to Augustana’s Student Government Association in spring of 2021.  

 According to Dr. Hann, these continued efforts have brought Augustana’s policy more in line with other local colleges.

“Every other institution of higher education in the Quad Cities has been smoke free for a really long time,” Hann said. 

The new policy, Hann said, is intended to protect the health and well-being of the Augustana community.

“The importance of the smoking and vaping policy is to support the health of people who have the human right to breathe clean air where they live, learn, work and play,” Hann said. “We’re ensuring that people with disabilities, people with asthma, people with long COVID are protected and don’t have to walk through smoke just to be able to go to class.”

In addition to health benefits, the new policy simplifies the enforcement of Augustana’s smoking guidelines.

“Before, we were getting into all these Byzantine rules about being within a certain number of feet from buildings, doors, windows, and things like that,” Kai Swanson, special assistant to the president, said.

Given the recent nature of this policy change, it is yet unclear how many students are aware of it. The announcement appeared within a larger email titled “Campus Update: J-term explorations,” prompting some concern from Baril.

“They could have sent out a public announcement, just because this was such a big change,” Baril said. “I feel like students were not informed quickly enough about the change.”

Swanson said that disseminating information is often a challenge, “We can communicate in certain ways and put things where we hope folks will encounter them, but we can’t make them consume the information.”